BP's Dudley to visit Russia for meeting with deputy PM

BP's incoming head Robert Dudley is due in Russia on Wednesday for a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin.
He will be accompanied by the company's outgoing CEO Tony Hayward, whom BP have said they intend to put forward as a non-executive member of the board of the joint Russian-British TNK-BP venture.
Dudley is no stranger to Russia, having headed TNK-BP, owned by the AlfaAccessRenova consortium and BP on a parity basis, in 2003-2008.
He was forced to quit after the Russian shareholders accused him of running the company purely in the interests of the British company and insisted on his removal.
During the meeting with Sechin, who also chairs OAO Rosneft, Russia's largest oil producer, Hayward will formally introduce Dudley as the company's new CEO.
Dudley and Hayward will also meet with Russian TNK-BP shareholders and with management figures from Rosneft and LUKoil.
Dudley will take up the post of BP head from October 1, 2010.
Hayward's leadership came under severe criticism after a BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, the worst spill in U.S. history, which led to multibillion dollar losses for the company and far-reaching consequences for the ecology of the region.